Enlightenment Is Obvious
Subitism is correct
What is enlightenment? So much ink gets spilled about it, only to say it can’t be described and summing it up as “Highly recommended; can’t tell you why.”
Buddha laid out all sorts of practices and instructions in the sutras, but then he also went and enlightened a guy like this:
“In that case, Bāhiya, you should train yourself thus: In what is seen there must be only what is seen, in what is heard there must be only what is heard, in what is sensed there must be only what is sensed, in what is cognized there must be only what is cognized. This is the way, Bāhiya, you should train yourself.
“And since for you, Bāhiya, in what is seen there will be only what is seen, in what is heard there will be only what is heard, in what is sensed there will be only what is sensed, in what is cognized there will be only what is cognized, therefore, Bāhiya, you will not be with that; and since, Bāhiya, you will not be with that, therefore, Bāhiya, you will not be in that; and since, Bāhiya, you will not be in that, therefore, Bāhiya, you will not be here or hereafter or in between the two—just this is the end of suffering.”
Then through the Gracious One’s brief teaching of this Dhamma Bāhiya of the Bark Robe’s mind was immediately freed from the pollutants, without attachment.
And Buddha, who was ready to slack off immediately after attaining enlightenment due to believing no one would understand him, got a divine pep talk that went:
“Sir, let the Blessed One teach the Dhamma! Let the Holy One teach the Dhamma! There are beings with little dust in their eyes. They’re in decline because they haven’t heard the teaching. There will be those who understand the teaching!”
That is what persuaded Buddha to teach. The existence of those with “little dust in their eyes”. That’s who his teachings are aimed for.
And we have confirmation that it was those of the little dust who received these teachings: because Buddhism would go on to evolve crazy notions such as everyone has Buddha-nature, and that you should tear up the sutras, and even that if you meet the Buddha, kill him.
These things are all true and correct.
You heard about enlightenment. You want enlightenment. Maybe you try practices. You read books and scriptures. Even do drugs perhaps.
But enlightenment is nearer than near.
All those practices? All the reading?
It was all wood for your own funeral pyre.
Wanna set it and you on fire? Here is something to your great benefit:
The path is fake. Meditation is fake. There is no enlightenment.
Disappointing, huh? But enlightenment is the “ultimate and final disappointment”. The realization that there is nothing to attain. So give up meditation, give up any practices. Realize enlightenment is a path, and you have always been on that path. Because there is nothing outside that path.
Because it is the Infinite.
Enlightenment is paradoxical. It necessarily is something that has always been there, because if it wasn’t, it would be something constructed, and everything that is born dies. Enlightenment does not die. And yet, few people, when asked 'Are you enlightened?’, would answer ‘Yes’. So what is going on? How can you both have and not have something?
But enlightenment is not ‘something’ because it is not a thing. Enlightenment just is. The ‘I Am That I Am’ from the Bible. The ‘That Thou Art’ of the Upanishads.
It’s always been there and yet it is different from unenlightenment. Being unenlightened is like you’re on a surfboard and you get knocked off it by the waves from time to time. Enlightenment is like you’re always on the surfboard, no matter what the waves do, which are as chaotic as ever. But then you realize you never got knocked off the surfboard in the first place. There was always something in you that was stonelike, unwinded, always faithfully reporting what the senses and the mind were up to, never flagging. As the Ashtavakra Gita says:
Not distracted in distraction, in mental stillness not poised, in stupidity not stupid, that blessed one is not even wise in his wisdom.
That is enlightenment. The necessary imperturbable backdrop that allows things to manifest. The canvas the paint is slathered on. The space between words. The screen where the movie plays. It’s always there. It’s always been there.
Pretty much every paradoxical and contradictory thing you have read about it starts making sense. You realize you are the cylinder:
But back to getting you enlightened, which is the point of this after all. Aside from the realization that whatever story you have told yourself on enlightenment is fake and delusion, you can get insight into no-self right now, in this very instant. Look around you. Raise up a hand and look at it. Where is the self? If you answer the question, that’s when the self, the True Man of no Status, is conjured up. That’s it, that’s all there is to get. In the seen there is only the seen, in the heard, only what is heard. There is no self because the self is something constructed. But you don’t need to stop constructing it. Coming back to the Ashtavakra Gita:
If one thinks of oneself as free, one is free, and if one thinks of oneself as bound, one is bound. Here this saying is true, “Thinking makes it so.”
It is only an oppression to have a self if you think it is. If you think you are free, you are free. So think yourself free. Seize enlightenment right now like Napoleon crowning himself. Kill the Buddha and tear up the sutras.
You are free.
And you need no practice to realize that.
Were I to ask you now ‘Are you enlightened?’ would you be able to say ‘Yes’? If not, perhaps you do need practices after all. Maybe the wood hasn’t been piled up high enough. Or maybe you haven’t dared to immolate yourself in it, which again, is something you can do right now by just giving it all up.
Whatever you do, don’t cling to it. Don’t clench your fist around it. Enlightenment is about opening your hand. It is the great relaxation.
One final remark on enlightenment: it’s also not all about you. Don’t become a pratyekabuddha. Figure out how to make enlightenment do work.
You can take it, because after all, there is no ‘you’ that has to bear anything. There is only the seen. Only the heard.
And that’s all there is to it.
Hi, were you on truthstrike a while ago?